Video: See Selections From THESE GIRLS HAVE DEMONS, Presented In Berlin

Selections from These Girls Have Demons, a new rock musical by bookwriter/lyricist Meghan Brown and composer Sarah Taylor Ellis, were presented on December 18, 2023, as part of the Deutsche Musical Akademie's schreib:maschine at Berlin's Neuköllner Oper.

After a lifetime of playing nice in a failed attempt to get ahead in a patriarchal society, four wildly different teenage girls are possessed by demons (literally, demons) that unleash all the rage, sexuality, insecurity, and sheer feeling they have been taught to repress as well-behaved little girls. Infused with a contemporary rock sound and killer girl group harmonies, These Girls Have Demons is a Little Shop of Horrors for the post-#MeToo era and a galvanizing siren song for demon girls everywhere.

These Girls Have Demons has been developed in collaboration with Pittsburgh CLO, and the schreib:maschine was the first German language showcase of the musical. The presentation featured translation by Lisanne Wiegand, direction by Marielle Sterra, musical direction by Sarah Taylor Ellis, percussion by Illari Arbe, and performances by Faye Bollheimer, Yasmina Hempel, Mareike Heyen, and Isabel Waltsgott.

Meghan Brown writes about dangerous women. She has written over a dozen full-length plays and musicals, including The Tasters, What Happened While Hero Was Dead, The Pliant Girls (Ovation Award winner), and These Girls Have Demons. Her work has been produced or developed at institutions across the country, including Lincoln Center, Geffen Playhouse, Ensemble Studio Theater (NYC), Victory Gardens Theater, Portland Center Stage, LACMA, and the Getty Villa.

Sarah Taylor Ellis is a Berlin-based composer, musical director, and lecturer. She is currently collaborating with Musiktheater ensemble glanz&krawall as the musical director for Stadt der Teufel (Heimathafen Neukölln, March 2024) and as the composer/musical director for a new musical for inclusive theater company Theater Thikwa (December 2024). She has previously composed for the UK National Theatre and The Civilians, and her hybrid musical/opera The Trojan Women was the recipient of a 2019 OPERA America Discovery Grant.

Founded in 2010 by Kevin Schröder, Friederike Harmstorf, and Robin Kulisch, the Schreib:maschine is Germany's leading professional open stage for musical writers and composers.

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